C Is For Crackhead
by Reborn-Nightmares
Summary: A better version of The Flock Meets the Clan. Shaine, Paz, Pomega. Review.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Here is the better version of The Flock Meets The Clan. I'm sorry I had to delete it, but it was just horrible. Not at all the point of the story.**

**I'm only going to say the claimer and disclaimer once, so that I don't have to be bothered by it when I'm trying to write. Call me lazy.**

**Claimer: I own the plot to this story, and Patrick, Jasmine, and Shane all own themselves but I own their characters in this story. BTW- the big reveal of my nickname: RAINE. This is something Shane made up, because Jaz calls me Max and it's just too confusing, what with Maximum Ride. This is totally unrelated to The Flock Meets The Clan, so don't confuse yourselves.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any other references to books and/or television programs.**

**Enjoy the story!**

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Chapter 1

I heard a knock on my window.

Smiling to myself, I turned to the opening, seeing just the person I expected.

"You're going to have to wait a little longer, Shane-la, my dad's still awake… What the hell? You got MORE condoms? Why must you pollute my bush?" I said, laughing only slightly.

I mentally sighed.

I have a boyfriend who's a fifteen-year-old crack addict and just loves to hide condoms in my bushes. Sad truth, though, I love him.

Shane chuckled quietly, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Oh whatever, Raine. Just you try and have fun at Walmart without throwing a couple of those in some old lady's cart. And putting some in your pocket before leaving… C'mon, your birthday's tomorrow, shouldn't we enjoy it?" he smiled.

"Yeah, my 15th birthday. I know. Who really cares, though? My only friends are you, Jaz, and Patch. And no offense, Shane-la, but you're kind of a crack head. You know, a Sprungkopf, as Bill would put it." I said, referring to my favorite band's lead singer **(A/N: Bill Kaulitz from Tokio Hotel… GERMANS OWN)**.

"Well, for starters, I care…" Shane said, sliding in the window close enough to whisper in my ear, "You are, after all, Raine the amazing…"

Then he jumped back down into the bush, leaving me slightly dazed.

And just then my dad opened the door. I had to give him credit, even with all those drugs, he could still hear like a bat.

"How're you doing, Maxine? Planning on going to bed soon?" My dad said, nosey as ever.

"I'm fine, dad. And I've got this new theory- if I sleep during Social Studies at school this week, I'll take in the information better." I replied, annoyed, while trying to close the door on him.

"Alright, then… Oh, Mom and I are going to Audrey's horse show tomorrow, we should be back around two. Love 'ya." He said, walking out the door.

"Same to you, daddy-o. 'Night." I replied, closing the door all the way.

I pulled on a sweatshirt, pulling off my arm socks to look at the scars only briefly before I pulled the sleeves back over my arm.

Then I jumped out the window, landing next to Shane easily.

"Oh crap, I think I left my phone up there. Be right back… PUT THAT OUT! Seriously, either you stop using drugs or we're done." I said, snatching the marijuana out of his hand.

He looked into my eyes for a moment.

"Okay. I'll quit." He said, handing me his lighter and the contents of his pockets- marijuana, cigarettes, cocaine… the works.

I took the drugs, startled.

"You're quitting? Just like that?" I said, searching his eyes for an answer.

He shrugged, a smirk appearing on his face.

"Trust me, if I weren't eternally cursed to love you, it wouldn't be this easy."

At that I threw the drugs and the lighter into the sewers across the street (with my amazing aim) and pulled him towards me, completely forgetting my phone.

"C'mon, Raine, let's go for a walk," he whispered in my ear, taking my hand and walking towards the cemetery, our favorite hangout.

Waiting there was Jasmine and Patch, on the roof of the lawn keeper's shed.

"Hey! Shane-la, Raine! Get up here!" Jaz yelled, ushering us to hurry up.

I laughed a little, then broke into a run, pulling Shane along behind me.

When we got close enough, we put our feet on the ledge of a window, then pushed ourselves up onto the roof alongside Patch and Jaz.

"What up Patcherz?" I said, leaning around Jaz.

"The trees?" he replied, then pulled his sweatshirt more tightly around him, laying his arm across Jaz's shoulder.

"So what's the plan for tomorrow? You know we have to celebrate." Jaz said, looking deliberately at me.

"Ugh, nothing! I'm going to be lazy and watch a movie or something." I said, leaning against Shane's shoulder and covering my face.

I could feel his laughter in his chest. Looking up, I saw his features more clearly in the moonlight than I ever had before.

His face was similar to the actor's who plays Edward in the Twilight movie. He was very pale- almost paler than I was. His purplish-black hair was cut perfectly around his face, exactly like Bill's old hair style, and he was wearing my eyeliner thickly around his eyes. I reached my head up to kiss him lightly on the lips, then settled back onto his chest.

"Um, I hate to burst your little love bubble here, but- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Jaz said, standing up and looking into the distance.

"What…?" I trailed off, hearing the sound too.

There on the ground below us was a cluster of robots… sickly robots, and one boy standing in the middle.

My mind screamed flyboys and Omega, but I knew it couldn't be true.

Until that pure voice shouted up to us.

"Either come down now or fight to the death!" he yelled, aiming a gun in our direction.

"Run." I breathed, grabbing Shane's hand and jumping over the other side of the roof, sprinting as fast as I could.

It was fast for a human, and I only hoped fast enough to outrun what I only knew was behind us.

I prayed that Patch and Jaz would make it out, while I held Shane's hand tighter and jumped onto one of the passing train's cars.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: The story takes a turn for the worst here- if you don't like death, please don't read.**

**My other stories are humorous.**

**Read those.**

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Chapter 2

Everything was black.

The black felt good- it was warm and cozy.

But something made me push against it.

Soon I could hear voices.

"No, no… I know we should've done a test, but it's just one! Think of how many we lose to the escaped ones every day… It won't make a difference, this one was free... Yes- we still have three… Well, no, he's not gone yet… we'll take care of it soon enough…"

I broke through the surface of the black in a panic.

And found myself in a white lab room, with a guy in a white lab coat talking on a phone in front of me.

I didn't need time to remember- everything was crystal clear.

-_Flashback-_

"_Shane!" I screamed as Omega jumped on the car and hit Shane square in the back._

_My fury was building._

_In the books, he had been invincible._

_But in the books, he'd never hurt Fang, he'd never triggered as much rage as I was feeling now._

_I attacked him full on._

_Not taking a break until one of his attacks broke through._

_Then I was falling, and the last thing I heard was, "The other two are in the van. Let's go."_

_-End Flashback-_

"Where is he?" I screamed at the whitecoat, feeling that same fury.

He looked from me to the bed I had jumped off of, never answering, but his face paled and his eyes widened.

"I said, where. Is. He." I repeated, taking step closer to the whitecoat.

He pointed to a door connecting to a similar room.

I sprinted there as quickly as I could.

"Shane!" I said, panic in my voice, when I saw him strapped to what looked like a hospital bed.

"Raine, you're awake." He said in a weak voice.

I rushed to his side, trying to undo the restraints.

"We're getting out of here, Shane. Now." I said, pulling harder.

"It's too late, Maxine. Get Jaz and Patch and go- they're fine all until I die. And that's coming soon. Go!" he said, trying to push me away, but he was so weak it felt someone trying to push me with a feather.

"No!" I said, snapping the first restraint and heading toward the next.

"Max, you have-" I cut him off.

"Shane, no. I'm not leaving you. Even if… even if it doesn't turn out the way we hoped… I'm staying by your side." I said, giving up on the restraints.

He would be safer here.

Just then, Flyboys were all around me, holding my arms back, and dragging me into a room.

The man I saw wasn't nearly like I had imagined him.

"Ah, Raine, you've finally come. I know you've realized by now that your Shane is safest here. The drugs in his system did not work well with the DNA we were attempting to fuse with his, thus his current condition. You and your other two friends will be more successful. There's no reason to argue, of course, because either way, you have nowhere to go. All of your relatives are dead. Your parents, your sister, Jasmine's parents, Patrick's parents, brothers, and sister all died recently. There was a tiny mishap with a few parking garages in the area, and the only survivors of the bomb are in a mental institution. You might know them." Jeb said, not even giving me a chance to respond before having Flyboys drag me into another room and throw me in a dog crate.

I wouldn't cry.

The worst had not come, even if it was close.

Yes- I'd lost so many loved ones. But the person I cared about most was still alive.

I sat there, unmoving, lost in thought for possibly a day- all I knew was that when I came back to the real world, Jasmine and Patrick were in crates beside me, trying desperately to get my attention.

"Maxine! Maxine!" Jasmine yelled, dry tears on her face.

"Que?" I replied, knowing that, if all else failed, we could still keep our thoughts a secret.

"Comment sont vous et Shane?" she whispered back, stumbling a little on her French.

"Ne devenez pas inquiétés de moi. Shane est presque mort. Sont vous deux O.K.?" I replied.

"Nous sommes parfaits." She said, just as a whitecoat came in, holding an unconscious Shane and putting him in the crate beside me.

"Shane!" I said, going as close to him as the bars on the crate would allow.

He twitched a little, but I decided I had to let him rest if he was going to get any better.

The whitecoat hadn't left, and she was staring at me, kind of nervously.

She opened the crate and said to me, "It's time for experimentation. You can return in a matter of days."

I walked behind her, knowing that, for this part, I would be safely unconscious.

Even Itex wouldn't perform surgery without some soft of pain killers.

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**A/N: I'm really gonna need a frenchie to help me out here- it's the secret language we're gonna use, but I'm only in my second year of French class… I did grow up hearing it a lot, but I forget too much of it.**

**If there aren't any frenchies I'm gonna change it to Pennsylvania Dutch, because that I know a lot of. (It's similar to German.)**

**I hope you like it, and I hope you understand how the Flock's gonna come in.**

**I might make this into a Twilight crossover.**

**I'm not at all a fan of crossovers, but… it makes a good story, I have to admit that much.**

**BTW- here's me and Jaz's convo:**

**Me: What?**

**Jaz: How are you and Shane?**

**Me: Don't worry about me. Shane's almost dead. Are you two okay?**

**Jaz: We're perfect.**

**If you check it on a translator, it'll come out a little different, but that's the gist of it.**

**Well…**

**REVIEW.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Hey- we need to recheck these results. There's no possible way that could've happened." I heard, pushing against the black yet again.

I realized something then- it was easy to get through. Not like walking through mud anymore- like walking on a moving bus, actually.

It was all _too _easy.

I made an attempt to sit up before opening my eyes, and felt the restraints against my arms. They snapped easily, and I was sitting in less than a second.

So much for sitting up slowly.

I opened my eyes, seeing two whitecoats hunched over a computer, while another was standing at the door with a tazer, eyeing me.

"Excuse me." I said, or at least I though I did, but the voice that came out sounded… eerie, like a ghost, and it almost hurt my ears.

They turned, startled, about a second later, and I realized it wasn't just sitting up that I was fast with. It was everything.

"Dan, restrain it. We're still trying to work out it's lab results, there's no telling what it can do." One whitecoat said, incredibly slowly.

"Excuse me, but I'm not an it. So please, refer to me as Raine. A female." I said.

All of the whitecoats' eyebrows scrunched together, and the other one said, "Bill, we probably overdosed it on something. It's moving too quickly. Dan, seriously, get the needle and inject it already, it might make a move."

He was only talking a bit slowly, so I assumed that he was talking quickly for them.

The whitecoat by the door, Dan, reached for a needle very slowly then took a few steps towards me.

Before he could even take 5 steps, I was out the door, my 'chart' in hand.

I scanned the papers while searching for the room I knew Shane to be in.

My feet were barely touching the ground.

"Shane?" I said as slowly as I could as I peeked into each room.

At the last one in the hall, I found it. I saw the cameras all around me and imagined them blowing up and getting the hell out of my way, and then they did.

"What the hell…" I whispered quietly to myself as I walked into the room.

"Shane?" I said, one last time.

I found the three in the same room at the end of the hall.

Patrick's hair now had orange highlights, which reminded me of a while back when he'd said he'd always wanted some crazy colored highlights.

Jasmine looked a little different than before, but one thing was the same about all of them.

They were all looking at me, eyes horror-stricken, with the exception of Shane, who looked merely curious.

"What?" I asked, getting annoyed. Here I was, about to save their sorry asses, and all they could do was stare.

"Who are you?" Patrick said, inching back in his cage.

I knew I must've looked confused.

Why wouldn't they recognize me?

I turned to see a reflective cabinet, then screamed.

What I saw in the reflection looked like the Angel of Death, or worse.

My eyes were the first thing I registered.

The pupils were white, and the irises were black.

It looked like I had put mascara and eyeliner on then cried.

My skin was ghostly white.

I was a little taller than before, or maybe it was just the fact that I was kind of hovering above the ground.

My hair was like I'd always imagined it- black, shoulder length, bangs across the front at a slight angle, and white streaks.

My clothes were completely torn and too short, so I knew I was taller.

Then, slowly, I pulled out a wing. It hurt terribly, but I kept pushing myself.

They were scarred and bloody, and dirty, but underneath all the grime and blood I could see that the inside was white with some black streaks while the outside was black.

"Is this really me?" I whispered, then flipped out the chart.

It read:

Height: 5'6"

Weight: 62 lbs.

Species: Unknown

"What am I?" I said, then threw the chart across the room.

It smashed through the wall and made a huge opening to the outside.

Then I came back to reality, unlocked all the cages, and insisted they run out.

Shane wouldn't go, while Jaz and Patch were out the hole in seconds.

So far, no alarms were going off.

He asked, quickly enough for me to understand, "You're… you are Raine, aren't you?"

I looked at him sadly for a few moments.

"I used to be." I said, then picked Shane up and ran through the hole.

We were in the parking lot in a second.

"Wait!" I yelled as the two figures ahead of me started running.

They turned.

"It's me. I'm still Raine. Do you have wings?" I asked.

Shane whispered in my ear.

"A little too fast, Raine."

Right.

"It's me, Raine. Do you have wings?" I said, dragging out the words.

They looked at each other, saw Shane, unconcerned, in my arms, then nodded.

"Yeah, we have wings. Let's get out of here, I can't take another second of that smell." Patch said.

The two unfurled their wings very slowly.

Jasmine had purple-ish wings, and in this light some feathers glinted black, but her wings were not nearly as big as mine, and Patrick had even smaller wings, almost making me laugh with the fact that they were exactly like a parrot's.

"Um… we don't know how to fly." Patch said, turning towards me.

"Shane, how about we just carry them, they'll have flyboys out here in seconds." I said, becoming impatient.

He shrugged his shoulders then picked up Jaz, flying up higher than me.

He smiled, and for a second I believed he would be okay.

But when I saw how hard for him it looked just to fly.

"Okay, Parrot Boy, are you gonna be stubborn or can I carry you?" I said, remembering to be slow.

"Fine." He replied, but even when I picked him up I could tell he was afraid of me.

Who wouldn't be? I could only think of one person, and I wasn't even sure if he was mentally well or not.

Patrick was light- it felt like holding onto air.

"Ow!" he yelped, and I loosened my grip.

Then with one little downstroke, I was flying.

It was so easy, only Patrick's heavy breathing reminded me to slow down and stay closer to the ground.

"Um… should we buy some better clothes?" Jaz said a while later as a city started to come into view below.

I took a quick glance at Shane then replied, "Yeah, we probably should. If it's close enough to Halloween, that is."

Shane translated for Patch and her, and I realized that I had been talking too fast for them, yet again.

"Yeah, I think it's mischief night." Patch said.

"Alright, then. Shane-la, let's land in the parking lot there and walk around a while." I said, already tilting my wings downward.

I touched down and let Patrick down on the ground.

He rubbed his ribs.

"Sorry." I said, already walking towards the street.

Shane came up next to me and took my hand, starting to walk painfully slow.

"They won't be able to keep up if you keep going this fast. Don't worry- it gets easier." He whispered in my ear, and I nodded in response.

We got close to the street, and as slowly as I could manage, I said, "Make sure your wings are pulled in and covered- well, it is mischief night, so maybe you can show them a little under your jacket or something if your clothes are too tattered."

They pulled up their jackets a little more.

I walked in the doors of a Mall, slowing down to match Shane's pace.

I smiled a little- everyone else here was in costume.

"Um… I guess Shane and I'll head up to Hot Topic and Pac Sun, and you guys can go to American Eagle and wherever else you want. Just meet up by sundown at the food court." I said, hesistantly.

Jaz and Patch nodded, grabbing hands and walking almost at normal speed- I mean, running, towards the second level.

"Off we go…" Shane whispered in my ear, then pulled me along only a little slowly towards the Hot Topic store.

"Shit! Do we even have any money?" I said once we got inside the store.

"Who said anything about paying?" Shane replied, a devilish smile appearing on his face.

Just like old times.

"Run fast." I replied, grinning.

I walked over to the girl's side of the store while Shane headed for the hair dye.

The first thing that caught my eye was the wall of skinny jeans in a bunch of different colors. I instantly remembered that I had no idea what size I was.

I decided to try a pair of purple skinny jeans and some pink plaid skinny jeans in a size zero instead of my old size- 00 short, also figuring that I would get more pants from Pac Sun.

Then I went over to the shirts, finding 3 - a purple Metro Station tee, a Twilight Team Edward tee, and a black and white striped fishnet top with a black tank for underneath.

I also grabbed a grey and black striped motorcycle jacket, just in case it got cold, then headed off to try the clothes on.

The clothes actually fit really well, and I decided to keep the pink plaid skinny jeans and twilight shirt on.

I ran out of the store, slowing down to grab silver and black eyeliner pencils, purple mascara, black and white nail polish, turquoise eye shadow, a pair of black and white arm warmers, and a black and purple Linkin Park tote bag to stuff it all in, taking the tags off on the way out, even the security ones that take the little machine or whatever to pull off.

No one really saw me, and luckily, the alarms didn't go off.

Right outside of Pac Sun, Shane was waiting, and once he saw me coming he tossed a pile of stuff he got from Hot Topic at me then walked in.

I smiled and stuffed his things in the bag with mine.

The second I walked into the store, I headed towards the hoodies, grabbing a black and white checkered one.

I got over to the jeans and laughed slightly at the 50 percent off sale. More like 100 percent off.

The jeans I picked up were black skinny jeans and also a grey pair, then I headed towards the shirts, ripping the tags off the jeans and hoodie.

I grabbed a black lace cami and a black tee with DC Shoes written on the front in pink letters, ripping those tags off too.

Shane and I ran out and headed towards our last stop before meeting Jaz and Patch- Payless Shoe Store.

I walked in, grabbed a pair of black converse, took the tags off, and walked back towards the food court, grabbing some socks out of a random person's bag, ripping the torn flip flops off my feet, then pulling on the short white socks along with the shoes.

"Are you hungry? I though we should've been by now." I whispered to Shane, who was now sitting across from me at a table near a Pizza Hut window.

"No, but I'd bet Jaz and Patch'll get something if they get hungry. You do know we still have one- or two, depending on how needy you feel like being, more places to go, don't you?" he asked, looking at the near-full bag slung over my shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah. Oh- here they come. I'm gonna go with Jaz now, you and Patch go do some male bonding or whatever." I said, walking to meet Jaz who was also carrying a bag.

"Stolen?" I whispered to her slowly.

She smiled in response.

"C'mon, let's get this over with. Victoria's Secret, here we come. After this we are SO getting a hotel." I said while we started walking towards the store.

We walked in and to Jaz's delight and my despair, a perky sales lady came up to us.

"Hi! I'm Nikki, do you need help finding anything?" she said in that I'm-so-fake voice.

"No thanks, we know what we're getting." I replied before Jaz could get in her opinion.

I walked over and picked up 4 bras and 4 boy short style undies, then walked into the changing rooms to try it on. The vision in the mirror wasn't as bad as I'd thought it was before, but it still wasn't a good one. I ended up having to get the bras in bigger sizes, muttering to myself about how perverted scientists were these days.

Jaz was still looking at all of the Pink stuff when I ran out, but eventually she came.

"To the hotels!" she yelled, recovering much faster than me.

Soon we were back on the street, headed towards a motel we'd passed on the way, Shane and Patch following close behind.

"Shit… look at that! It's a wallet- no I.D. in it- and it's got, like, 500 bucks in it!" Patrick said, stopping over and grabbing a wallet, which, indeed, had no I.D. whatsoever in it.

Shane and I smiled at each other, then started racing towards the motel.

I walked up slowly to the front desk once we got inside, stopping to talk to the woman.

She was eyeing Shane in that annoying way people do when they're trying to flirt without getting fired.

I grabbed his hand and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then turned to glare at the woman.

Her smile turned to a scowl.

I cleared my throat, remembering that horrible voice, and tried to change it a little.

"We need two rooms for… one night." I said, and with my experimenting, my voice came out sounding almost like wind chimes.

I faked a smile at the woman.

"Ugh, whatever, emo girl. It'll be 100 dollars. Gimme the money and _maybe_ I'll give you the room keys." She said, holding out her hand and chewing her gum in a very annoying way.

I tossed her 80 bucks, took the room keys from the desk, and said, "Okay, blondie, here's 80 bucks and _maybe_ I'll give you the rest later." I said, letting the horrible voice come from my throat again and gave her a good death glare before heading down the hall to our rooms.

I could've sworn I heard Patrick say, "Chicks these days…" under his breath, but I ignored it.

"Okay, Shane and I get room 34, and you two get room 33 right next to us. Got it?" I said, holding out the room key for Jaz.

I opened the door and got inside, noticing the queen sized bed near a door that went directly outside.

Convenient.

I sat on the bed and sorted out the things we'd gotten.

"We're gonna need to get backpacks or something, Shane-la. This can't work much longer." I said, trying to cram the stuff back into the bag.

"Let's focus on one thing at a time. The first being this- who gets a shower first?" he said, looking me over.

I blushed a little. I had totally forgotten the fact that we hadn't bathed in who knows how long.

"I'll go." I said, then picked up the black skinny jeans, metro station tee, and a matching set of a bra and underwear, heading into the bathroom.

I closed and locked the door, looking over the small room. There was a sink with a mirror, and in the cabinet below the sink there was the motel soaps, and, to my surprise, a hair brush. That would be useful.

I took a warm yet short shower, thoroughly cleaning every inch of myself, and when I got out of the shower and looked in the mirror, I wasn't as horrific as before. Turns out my weird eyes were a side effect of the chemicals at the lab or something- now they were mostly back to their normal black pupils and brown irises. My skin was getting a little less ghostly white, and my scratches had mostly healed. Now that my wings were clean, I admired them. The black and white contrast looked really good clean. And the mascara and eyeliner plus crying effect had worn off.

I pulled on the clothes, brushed through my hair quickly, then walked out to find Shane looking through the bag I'd picked up earlier.

"Can I use your eyeliner?" he said, with a smile growing on his face.

"Just as long as your hair gets purple again. Just don't use too much, I don't have a sharpener." I smiled back, then finished, "You might not want to put it on now, Shane-la, it's kind of night time."

He sighed then grabbed a handful of clothes- black and pink, what a surprise, and went into the bathroom.

A few minutes later while I was trying to fit everything in the bag, I heard someone yell, "Holy crap!" from the next room over.

"Be right back, Shane-la!" I yelled, already out in the hall and pounding on room 33's door.

"It's open!" Jaz called.

I burst in, looking around for the source of the scream.

My eyes landed on an alarm clock floating over Patch's head with a blackish glow around it.

Jaz was staring at it, unblinking.

"I think I have a power." Jaz said, just when the alarm clock landed back on the side table.

"Is that really why you made me spaz out and run in here?" I said, trying to talk slowly but too aggravated too much to try hard enough.

There was silence for a long moment, then Patch said, "Well… there's more."

And with that, he disappeared.

I felt a poke on my shoulder.

"HOLY SHIT!" I yelled, spinning around and hitting my fist against air.

Then Patch appeared in front of me, clutching his arm.

"Damn, you need some sleep." He said, sitting on the bed, still rubbing his shoulder.

"You're probably right," I muttered, "I'm out of here!" I finished, louder this time.

I walked back into the room to find Shane on the floor, eating a bunch of candy.

"Is that how you and Parrot Boy spent your time?" I said, grabbing a Hershey bar and sitting down next to him.

"No. It's how I spent my time away from the School last year, before they found me again." He said, looking down and speaking very quietly.

"What? Shane… how long was I out?" I asked, looking at him with fearful eyes.

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**A/N: Oh, it's a cliffhanger!!**

**I know, you guys hate them.**

**That's why we authors love them so much.**

**SHOPPING MADNESS!**

**Okay, in the next chapter I find out how long I really was out, and why it took them all so long to recognize me.**

**It's a complicated load of shit, but it's amazing how bored I was when I figured it all out.**

**Alright.**

**Review, my pets.**

**XD**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry I've been taking so long. Major writers block.**

**You have permission to scream.**

**But- here it is.**

**Short as it may be, there's a lot of info.**

Chapter 4

"What? Shane… how long was I out?" I asked, looking at him with fearful eyes.

"Two years." He whispered, looking into my eyes.

I couldn't remember how to breathe.

Of course. Of course they'd messed up like that.

I'd been out- and I hadn't even known it.

Probably more than out.

I brought myself to breathe a minute later, while Shane was trying to hide his concern by sorting through his candy bars.

When I spoke, it was back to the nails-on-chalkboard sound, I was still in shock.

"Je ne comprande pas, Shane! C'est impossible! Je…" I trailed off, realizing I had spoken French.

"It's okay, I did the same thing when they told me you were dead." He said.

That didn't make things any better.

"DEAD?! I was fucking DEAD?!" I yelled, the screeching sound worse than ever, and jumped up.

"Calm down, Raine. Yes, you were dead. For two years. Today they finally got you back. Let me explain, and have some chocolate, it'll help." He continued, trying to soothe me.

I sat, still numb with shock, and leaned against Shane's shoulder.

He smoothed my hair while talking.

"Their experiment went wrong- they put the wrong DNA in you or something. You lasted maybe a few hours before dying. For a whole year, they spent time trying to bring you back to life. They ignored the other experiments. So they all escaped- including me. I was numb that entire year, but basically lived off chocolate. Then a bunch of scientists came in a van at the end of that year and pulled me in, and it was back to the school. Today, they got you back. And I'm pretty sure they're not happy that we escaped." He said, talking at a normal speed.

I felt dizzy although I wasn't even standing, and then it all went black.

**A/N: You don't even h** **ave to review, I know you all hate me by now.**

**I promise to update soon.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: You officially have permission to KILL me. I know- it's been freaking months… **

**I finally got back on FanFiction when I reread the Max Ride series. So, I read this, planning to delete it, but I kind of like it.**

**Except for those perverted scientists. XD**

**Well, here's an update, although you guys hate me anyways and probably went on reading strike a while ago…**

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Chapter 5

"Raine? Raine, wake up." I heard voices.

I forced my eyes open, annoyed at my weakness the past few days.

Or _years._

My eyes met Shane's face, and I realized that it was lighter out now. Joy, I'd been out all night.

"What do you want…" I moaned, that annoyed nails-on-chalkboard sound again.

"It's morning, Raine. And… and there's a note from Patrick." He said, making me fully awake.

"Give it." I said, reaching my hand out. My voice hurt my ears.

Shane handed me a piece of paper and I noticed Jaz in the corner, crying.

_Yo._

_Just a little note here._

_This shit that happened to all of us, well, I don't mind blaming it on Raine. But if I hadn't been hanging out with Jasmine, I would've been fine._

_They gave me an offer there. I could be normal if I helped them get rid of their experiments slated for termination._

_That's you guys._

_And I gladly agreed to it. Because, in reality, I've always hated this group._

_So Shane- I know you're gonna try to protect Raine. But remember this- you're weak. Pathetic, really. So don't even try it if you don't want to die for her. Which would be stupid, because she's worthless anyways. She got you into this mess._

_And Jasmine, I'm really glad I'm finally AWAY from you. Because, you see, I've been waiting for an opportunity to be with Omega. Now that you'll be dead, I can be gay and merry, skipping through flowers with him._

_Raine. I'll be happy when you're dead, the most. You always thought you were so great. That you could convince anyone to do whatever you wanted. Well, Shane's exhibit A. He's been doing crack for the past two years, and jumped off a building or two. And also, during that time you were supposedly gone, he hooked up with a lot of people. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the father of a few mutants…_

_Don't even try to win._

_-Patrick_

I shot up and backed away from the note, from Shane, from all of this.

"How. DARE. You." I screamed, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

"I didn't, Raine, how could you believe that liar? He called you worthless! He said he wanted to go off and be GAY with OMEGA! I told you, I was a zombie then. Yes, I did jump, I did do drugs… but you're alive now." Shane said, stepping closer to me.

I backed away.

"Jaz, is he lying or not?" I said, ignoring how depressed she must've felt.

"He's not lying. Patch is just gay. And retarded. And we should kill him." She said, staring at the carpet.

I believed her, and totally agreed…

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

Shane hugged me.

"Let's do this as a Max Ride tribute. She died alongside her best friend for this world, and we shouldn't let it just fall apart. Maybe we can find Angel and the Gasman, the last two in the Flock, and see if we can get some help." I said, hearing my voice crack when I remembered that day.

Shane looked at me, wary. I knew he didn't want us to be at risk. Neither did I, really. I would be totally willing to find a hideout and just stay there until the world ended. But I also wanted revenge on the Gay Parrot Boy.

"You don't have to do that, guys. We can just find a hideout and stay there." Jaz said, reading my thoughts (not literally).

"For now." Shane said, taking on the role as leader.

I didn't like that idea, with him so weak. But he was the oldest, and even when he was high, he had the best logic. I didn't have to do this the Max Ride way. I could let a guy take over.

I smiled at him.

"Let's go to some place where it's _warm_,"I said, rubbing my arms.

"Food first, I could hear your stomach rumbling from a mile away." He said, half-smiling. I wondered if I'd ever see his real smile again.

I noticed him wearing my purple eyeliner.

Jaz looked better than she did before, but I knew she was sad. She didn't want to try to fight this.

I don't think any of us did. We wouldn't… not at least until we had no choice. Right now, all I could think about was food.

"Why wasn't I hungry yesterday?" I whispered to Shane as we all walked down to the lobby.

"They had you on an IV drip for a while, but other than that, I really don't know." He whispered back, taking the bag from me. I glared at him, "You say anything about me carrying this bag, I'm getting a talking dog and naming it after you." He said before I could take it back.

The girl from before was back at the desk. I smiled the fakest smile ever, like, I should win an award for it, and walked up to her.

She glared at me, and said, "Missing someone?"

I chucked the keys at her face and walked out, Shane close behind, trying not to laugh, and Jaz full-out laughing in the girls face at her expression.

"Points to you if you broke her nose!" Jaz choked out between laughs.

We stopped at a Denny's restaurant, then down a few blocks to a park. This place seemed familiar to me, but I couldn't figure out why.

"Welcome to the bright lights of Death Valley National Park!" Shane said, with mock enthusiasm.

I laughed, trying to find a secluded spot.

Shane led us over to a place surrounded by trees, and then whipped out his wings.

"Time for Flying 101, Jaz." He said, and I pulled out mine also, still feeling sore.

She looked between us nervously.

"You're gonna rip off my wings, I know it." She said, then closed her eyes tightly and opened her purple wings.

"Uhh… Shane, your job." I said, pulling my wings in and stepping back.

He looked at me with a sad expression, knowing what I was thinking.

I had no idea how to fly. I just knew I could… amazingly.

"Alright Jaz, now get a hard downstroke then pull your wings back up quickly." He said, showing her with a tight face. His wings hurt more than mine.

Jaz tried the downstroke, but didn't pull up her wings fast enough and fell.

"Try again." I said, making sure to be slow.

She did, and managed to stay up until the third downstroke.

I pulled out my wings again and followed along with their little lesson. My wings hit the trees beside me, though, so I kept them in slightly and went up above the trees, while they were still on the ground.

"Shane? Wanna try this with some feathered friends?" I said, swooping down and grabbing Jaz by the arm.

"Ow!" she said, and I loosened my grip.

"Maybe Shane should bring you." I said, and let her down.

We flew towards the cave we'd fantisised about so many times, meeting up with hawks halfway.

Shane let Jaz go, and she whipped out her wings and hit me in the face.

"Watch it!" I yelled, then followed the hawks.

Shane was watching them closely, while Jaz was simply trying not to fall.

I was floating along, not even realizing how similarly I flew to the hawks. It was only when Jaz fell for the third time that I noticed.

"Hey, I think she's close enough. Let's head east." Shane said, and I flew ahead.

"Appalachians?" I said to him before I got out of hearing range.

"You bet." He replied, and I flew as fast as I could.

East. The place I'd grown up.

I didn't want to go back there. All my life, I'd been cooped up in Jersey, waiting for something like this to happen.

"Can we go to Florida?" I heard Jaz say, and I smiled.

I wasn't alone.

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**A/N: I know, it's an update, and most of you completely forgot what the story was about in the first place.**

**I promise, promise, promise I'll update soon.**

**If I don't, please come to Jersey and bomb my school. :D**


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